#HopedealersParaugs

Day 3: Saying YES Changes Everything

Scripture: The Story of Gideon

When I was about six months clean, I was offered a job at a treatment center and I jumped on it. I was ready to take up this mantle as both a ministry and a lifelong career. I began to envision myself in this role, thinking about what it might be like five, ten, twenty years down the road.

And then, nine months later, I got fired.

I was devastated. What was I going to do with my life now? I retreated to the back patio of my parents' house to lick my wounds and talk things over with my dad, and over the course of those conversations, I began to dream about what would become Hope is Alive Ministries.

Six months after I was fired, that dream was a full-fledged reality. God breathed an entirely new vision for my life into me, one that far exceeded anything I'd ever imagined while I was working at that treatment center.

Maybe this has happened to you. Maybe you thought you were on the right track, saying YES to God, when someone suddenly stood in front of you with a great big NO. You've been hurt by those you thought were going to help. You've been preparing to fly only to discover backbiters have been plucking out your wings, feather by feather.

Your responsibility, same as mine, is not to try to take charge and make results happen on God's behalf. No, it's to say YES and trust God for the rest. That's what I had to learn, and it's what I did, and God, as is His way, proved Himself extremely trustworthy.

In a way, this reminds me of today's reading: the story of Gideon.

Where does God find Gideon? Minding his own business, threshing wheat in secret. Nevertheless, God calls Gideon to deliver his people, and Gideon says YES.

Now, Gideon's wasn't a full-throated, fire-in-the-belly YES. Gideon's was a hesitant, are-you-really-sure YES. But it was still a YES! And then, after seeing some signs and feeling more confident, Gideon's whispered YES turns into a spoken YES. He's learning that he can trust God, and that if he just follows what God tells him to do, he can believe that God will bless his obedience.

Gideon’s story is amazing: God found this humble guy, called him to great things, and the guy just kept saying YES along the way. YES to the call. YES to raising an army. YES to decreasing that army by two-thirds. YES again to decreasing that army all the way down to 300. YES to this crazy-sounding plan with rams' horns and clay pots of fire.

I love the way God works. He just leads us along the way, putting a bunch of YESes in front of us so that when we look back, we can say, "Holy mackerel, this sure would've seemed nuts if I'd known where I was heading, but I'm so glad I said YES to each of these steps."

To become a HopeDealer you’ve got to learn to say YES! Everything of significance starts with a YES!

How will you say YES to God today?